Huntsman to GOP: 'Balance the Budgets, Get Out of People's Lives'

Avoid 'fringe issues,' he warns

Former GOP presidential contender Jon Huntsman has some words for the wise among his party, with his core message being that unless Republicans back away from the edge of politics, they're likely to fall permanently by the wayside.

Huntsman suggested to CNN viewers that his party stick to fine tuning regulation and taxation in a more limited government direction, and avoid "fringe issues." Such as? Unfortunately, the man once described as a "a conservative technocrat-optimist" by The Huffington Post failed to give any details on that score, only telling Republicans to "balance the budgets and get out of people's lives."

Huntsman said lawmakers on the right "ought to build the party around...strong libertarian roots that go back to the early days of the Republican Party," Politico

@LEC Justin is a Michigan congressman. I know Rand endorsed Romney an all but I really think he's just trying to position himself to get votes from the brainwashed who vote for people because of the R behind their name not knowing a thing about their views. Why don't you like him maybe there's something I'm missing?

@Libertyiskey I like to look past the R or the D or the L or the I. I just didn't like a lot of what Rand or his Father stand for. You see, I don't think that any one governmental system or economic system can be viable for any length of time. We need to utilize them all and we do. Social Security is socialist, FEMA is communist. But Libertarians are still small enough to remain idealistic and can stick with their ideal. But if that were applied to a nation in total, it would be a disaster.

What we need is to realize that we need a Serenity prayer for Government and economics..

Grant me the ability to know which form of government and which economic system to apply to each economic sector and governmental problem and the wisdom to not think that ONE SIZE FITS ALL.

I like this guy. He's a pretty damn smart man, and very moderate. I'd like to see him and Gov. Christie on a ticket next time around. I'm a liberal, but if you put those two together, you'd have me second guessing my Democratic vote for this ticket as long as they don't pander to the extreme right wing and use common sense. Maybe they should both create a "Moderate" party and run against both Republicans and Democrats.

@classychazy - How about we make it a law that the moment a person is elected to office, they can no longer be affiliated with any party... that way, they can work on representing ALL of their constituents and not just be party-pleasers...? Justa thought..

When he says "Get out of people's lives", he is in effect advocating lessening the strangle hold the religious right has on the party platform. This country needs to become more secular and science based in it's thinking if we are to advance into the future, and all political parties should reflect that shift.

Our politicians need to get their religiosity out of their politics... but the "country" can be as religious as they want to be... and political parties should not have this much power in a republican form of government.

Explain how gay marriage would harm the economy? How has abortion harmed the economy?(The argument can be made that it has helped the economy.) How does contraception hurt the economy?(Once again it actually helps.) These are all social issues that members of the Republican Party have taken stands against the past few years.

Okay, so we want to get government out of people's lives, but we don't want to talk about any social issues. I don't see how that's possible.

Here, let's look at this then.

Government should never ever under any circumstance pay for an abortionGovernment should not pay people to breedGovernment should not pay people to be unemployedGovernment should not pay for your bad health decisions by providing you free healthcareGovernment should not restrict the 2nd AmendmentGovernment should not indoctrinate children through the education systemGovernment should not steal from the productive to pay the unproductive

I could go on and on about social issues that are driving our government to fiscal insolvency. The issue is, if we can't talk about social issues, how do we deal with the fiscal issues?

I've said it time and time again, a mother and a father are more likely to raise productive members of society that don't need government assistance more so than a welfare check and a baby momma can. If conservatives neglect their duty to talk about social issues then our fiscal issues will only mushroom. The biggest driver of our debt is Social Security. SOCIAL Security. Our social problems are bankrupting us. It's time someone speaks the truth about it.

@harold Good link. This is what I've been talking about for years. Legislation and Litigation for profit. The legal system has been transformed in to the legal industry. The law is now a commodity bought, sold and traded. Term limits, Flat tax ,Tort reform and a ban on lobbyist need to be the first measures taken. Then we can start striping down all the unnecessary legislation crippling our nation.

@FollowTheMoney If you want that to happen, you'll have to stop wasting so much time here and start writing your elected official as well as your local newspaper. Try not to sound like a crazy person, but cite specific problems and ask for specific solutions.Start by asking your senators and congresspersons who are they affiliated with and for what purposes..

Huntsman was the ONE legitimate chance the G.O.P. had to defeat Obama and the Republicans rejected their savior. He was certainly the only Republican candidate that I could have seriously considered. Level headed, cool under fire, even handed. He has a truely proven track record.

I'd like to know what fringe issues he was talking about but I agree the Republican Party should go back to its roots which would be strong libertarian ideas, like sound money, ending the monopoly on money from the Federal Reserve, ending wars on ideas especially drugs, and repealing big government acts like the doublespeak bill "patriot act."

Too bad so many people were swayed by the media and the pundits to reject Ron Paul as their nominee... things would be very different today if Dr. Paul was POTUS. But no, we want more of same... we are not tired of the status quo in DC yet. Too many people still believe that if we do the same thing over and over, we will eventually get different results...

getting rid of our federal monetary policy body doesnt work. look at the huge number of market and banking failures before we made the FED. for a more current example, look to the EU. one of their greatest mistakes was creating a common currency wit no common monetary policy body. a mistake they have admitted and are working to correct.

@woodtick57 - Ron Paul is not an isolationist.... that was something the pundits said... when you look at Paul's foreign policy platform, it has nothing to do with isolationism... our country's current policies isolate us... alienate us... and this causes hardships to our trade with other nations. There is a big difference between being an isolationist and a noninterventionist. Isolationism means we will not make treaties, do trade with other countries, participate in international causes, allow Americans to get an education or a job abroad, and we close our embassies... Ron Paul has never supported such actions... As for money... Article I, section 8 of our Constitution states: "Congress shall have the power... To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;" There is no mention of fiat money in the Constitution, nor does it give the power of valuation to the banks... the Fed is not a branch of gov't... "If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their money, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them (around the banks), will deprive the people of their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered." --Thomas Jefferson

I find his "analysis" ludicrous in light of the fact that as governor of Utah, this twinkie went out of his way to obfuscate abortion (thereby getting IN to people's lives). He's got a ways to go before he hits "decent".

I whole heartedly agree. Unfortuanely we have become a nation on both sides of the aisle that thinks we need the government to provide for us, tell us how to think, feel and even what we can and can eat.

Yes, I agree with what he is quoted as saying in this article. One of the definitions of conservative is "cautiously moderate", but many people who lately identify themselves as Conservatives are extreme and accuse moderates of being traitors, support outlandish ideas that they call traditional, and defend their opinions with rudeness, name calling, threats and even violence. This is not my father's Republican Party. The Republican Party needs to distance itself from the members who seem more like Fascists than Conservatives, rather than kowtow to them.